1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a connector for an inverter.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a hybrid vehicle in which a gasoline engine and a motor are used in combination as a power source, a single inverter 1 may be connected to two three-phase motors, one for starting the engine and the other for assisting a driving force. In this case the inverter 1 is provided with output terminals 1A including a total of 6 output terminals, i.e. U-phase, V-phase and W-phase output terminals corresponding to the respective motors. These output terminals 1A are usually aligned in a row such that in-phase output terminals are adjacently located, so as to simplify a structure of the inverter main circuit. For example, when two each of output terminals 1A for the respective phases of U, V and W are designated as U1, U2, V1, V2, W1 and W2, U1 and U2 are disposed next to each other, then V1 and V2 next to each other, and finally W1 and W2 are located next to each other.
Now, for supplying an output of this type of inverter apparatus 1 to a three-phase load, a connector 2 is currently employed. In the case of the inverter apparatus 1 constituted as above, an apparatus-side connector housing 3A provided with six terminal fittings is attached to a casing 1B of the inverter apparatus 1, while wires 4 extending from the motor are connected to a wire-side connector housing 5A also provided with six terminal fittings (not shown), so that insert-fitting the connector housings 3A and 5A achieves connection of the inverter apparatus 1 and the motor (See FIG. 19).
An example of such a connector 2 is disclosed in JP-A-2002-8787. This connector includes a wire-side connector 5 attached to terminals of the wires 4 and an apparatus-side connector 3 attached to an apparatus, and the wire-side connector housing 5A is provided with a terminal chamber (not shown) in which a plurality of wire-side terminals (not shown) can be stored, while the apparatus-side connector housing 3A is provided with a plurality of apparatus-side terminals (not shown) connectible to the wire-side terminals (not shown).